Perhaps you guys already thought about this, but... You definitely should apply fiberglass over this thing! Exactly like they do with wooden boats, kayaks and stuff like that! This way the foam is going to be much more durable! Anyway, stay safe there with your families! 🖖😊

I think you guys should fiberglass parts of this craft so it really lasts and you get some cool missions done with it. This reminds me of a surfboard build.

Outstanding!! Dave does amazing work! A true inspiration and a perfect addition to the FliteTest team! Well done gentlemen! ❤

I can picture you guys going down a highway in that. Have a lot of band aids ready for that first flight.

Nice technique with the foam cutting tools Dave!

I agree you should put at least a light layer of glass on this. Even 1 layer of cloth over the whole thing would make it way stronger and keep it light.

What a great project. This looks so cozy inside. Please let room in the middle console for an iPad cutout and get some custom app for the dashboard running.

I've stuck around with FliteTest since I was 8 years old. Now I'm preparing to go into a pilot training school soon. Thanks Flite Test.

Incredible build! This is actually such an innovative series, love seeing these ideas come to life on FliteTest. Nothing else like it anywhere! The fact that this is going to be pilot controlled makes me wonder how much weight that's going to add vs just using a simpler FPV RC setup where the pilot is just using those lightweight controls. So excited with this project!

Can't wait to see it run! Woohoo!

This is shaping up to be really impressive.

This is so cool! Also, those backing tracks are super nice!

This is one really cool idea! Who doesn't love Star Wars? Maybe a whole Star Wars series will come out of this. Hope the hovercraft idea is something that stays around, it would be great if you could fly it over water, land on the water and take off again. Oh great job on this project guys!

Wow, it's really starting to take shape now, love it!

I went back to look at the very first video i ever watched of flitetest it was the eRC microstik review 12yrs ago It's something amazing how far you have come, flitetest is the very first channel that I have been subscribed to. I subscribed to you after my very first drone purchase back in the day. It was the DJI Phantom 1 soon as it hit the shelf at hobbytown, this has to be at least 10yrs ago now. my very first hobby grade drone. I don't ever comment but I do want to thank you, you guys had really helped me learn about the drones in those beginning years. I still watch ever video. And enjoy everyone. You have inspired many people and the things you do with kids to keep the positive vibes going is just a wonderful thing to see. Keep up the great content and the even crazier engineering you guys do there! You do good great things over there!

Thanks guys your work to bring sifi into reality is so enjoyable to watch

Looks amazing, gentlemen!

Absolutely fantastic!

This is so very cool! very nice build! Cant wait to see you guys speed racing!

Heard after being pulled over by the local police during a test drive: “You don’t need to see his drivers license. These aren’t the Droids you’re looking for.”

Definitely requires fiberglass to add strength and durability.

A beautiful ambitious project is coming together.

This'll be the coolest creation at burning man!!!

It would be relatively easy to put a ball level in the middle to control thrust to keep it level. If weight is shifted to the rear, the ball would move and apply more thrust to the rear motor and vice versa.

Wow! Too Kool! Can't wait for the next episode

This is amazing!

What an awesome project! Love Star Wars and if anyone can pull it off it will be the FT crew! Can't wait! Well done gentlemen! 👍

this reminded me of when i saw the real one at an exhibition in about 1978 when i was a kid I'd never seen the film but it was so cool! Have you considered using something like space blanket to disguise the hover craft skirt? The reflections could help it to blend in somewhat.

This Old Man from Washington NC continues to enjoy your videos. I've been following y'all since almost day one ❤️. Keep up what you are doing to promote our awesome Hobby ✈️🧔💝

Awesome build , you should take apart your shop vac and take a look at its impeller. for your lift thrust you need pressure and not so much thrust from a prop . The pancake impeller design is simple to make and should give you better lift in a smaller diameter. It just requires more RnD than a prop but I think would pay for itself in the end..

advice: research the way the skirts are cut to shape and sealed along the joints. it can be trick non-euclidean geometry that trial-and-error will be a PITA to replicate. and I'll join the chorus: glass the hull. multi-ply quasi-isotropic layup for most uniform rigidity; using vacuum bagging if you are worried about weight, book-clamping if you are not.

very cool guys!

This is awesome

Simply amazing

Absolutely nuts! I can't wait!

coolest build you have done in a while!

That thing is going to be so awesome!!

Dear Flitetest, I would really love to see a mighty mini cub with a float set similar to the size of the mini old fogey and possibly some more park flyer ww2 warbirds. Thanks!

One word! Amazing!

A wood wrasp works great for getting rid of those "ribs". For laying down spackle in the curved sections, you can use a silicone spatula.

That would make a pretty rad hot tub!

Cool project.

Beautiful, yet looks fragile and scary. Be safe in there with those giant props and a foam frame.

If you guys get this flying, you HAVE TO ask Mark Hammil to come fly it.

Love you Flite test!!!!

Awesome incredible build! I know a lot of people are saying fiberglass this and that’s definitely a possibility and would work great but it’s a lot of work! I have shot rhino bedliner over phone before and made a homemade boat which works great and it was extremely durable might be easier and it comes in a lotta cool colors just a thought🤷🏻‍♂️ can’t wait to see this thing. Done though pretty bad ass guys keep up the great work.👍🏼🤩😎

some great tips

Looks good guy's, I know you are trying to make it look as close as you can to the movie prop... but you want to make the footprint as wide as you can to mitigate the tipping action of the craft because the hull is so narrow. Barry Palmer designed the Sevtec ACV some years ago you may want to look at his work. Dad and I talked about building one of Barry's designs so I talked a lot with Barry about the nuts and bolts of his designs so I would have a good understanding of the physics of the machine. With a bag skirt you should load the machine so when on cushion it is level Barry used a round bubble level to know where to move the weight to trim the craft. I guesstimate the gross weight of your craft should be about 650 to 700 pound maximum if you want it to plane out on water. The reason is you want to keep the cushion footprint area below 12 pounds per square foot otherwise you are blowing spray and loosing cushion seal and loosing lift that's also why you want to have the craft running as level to the surface you are running on. I know there is a lot of information on hovercraft out there but don't confuse information and data on the finger skirts with data and information on the bags skirts you guy's are using. The two have similarities but also some differences in how they operate and what works best. They are two different animals. Yes I do see some issues you are building into the design... more power is not going to help. By the way I have no idea where the community page is... The props you plan to use are great for making thrust but poor at making pressure that you need to fill the bag and make cushion pressure. What works on a small models doesn't mean it works on full scale physics.

Good old hovercraft, not mess about with them since 72. I see others have all ready advice to fibre glass, but also don't use prop blades use fan blades for the downward thrust

Will this be glassed and gel coated at some point? I would not think that just foam would be very good if you bump something you will rip chunks out of it Also you may not need a bag like a normal hovercraft with dual motors and props collin furze made the fly cycle that flies way higher than this will with out any thing of the sort

I am loving watching this come together and am excited to see more.

Reminds me of my boat building days.

The best build....ever!

If nothing else it's the new flitetest couch : ))

Wow! It’s really take good shape guys. I am very impressed. Well done! Now it looks nothing like a bathtub 😉

A minute and a half in and yes two props good and will be spinning under seat so no probs, love it.

This is AWESOME I hope it flies 🤞

EPIC!!!!!

I CANNOT wait to see it in action

Wow, this thing is really coming together. I want one! :D

That thing is going to be awesome

ilove this channel!

I hope you guys make that thing weatherproof. I bet you can enjoy it for years to come. who needs a golf cart when you have a hover craft =P

man i want to see this fiished so bad and it driving. the paint job you guys will do is gonna be so epic. damn so so so good guys.

I'm fairly sure you should wear a respirator when cutting that stuff? Especially so much, and indoors.

Neat! 👍🏻🙂

heroes come in all forms, you guys are one of those forms ;p

Should probably mark this as part2

you do good build

Nice viedo yes fiber gassing would make it much more durable 😀

nice man

There is a museum in Ft Eustis Virginia called the Army Transportation museum that has a hovercar from the 60's that I still think is original inspiration for this beast.

Make it legit - fiberglass it!

May the force (of upward thrust) be with you

Some plywood and fiberglass reinforcement would not be bad.

What are you going to do just paint the foam or are you going to epoxy glass the whole thing or maybe epoxy cloth it to give it a hard shell and for crash purposes and stability so the thing doesn't fly apart.

It’s an ingenious project this craft.If it works build one carbon fiber one and use turbine engines like the one in the movies.

You guys have come so far it’s amazing to see!

They made is apear to hover with a curtain of mirrors around the base, y'all could try that

I dunno if it’s a budget thing, but fibreglass would be an ideal material to use

I am looking forward to seeing you all move it out of that building. 😄

Am I the only one who wants this as a Star Wars themed bath tub? 🤣🤣

you should set up the Iron Giant as the Remote driver and send him down the road with the label on his back that says Rockwell Bound😀😂

Awesome project! I’m wondering if you will have CG issues with your current seat position? I’m not sure the front and rear props will be able to compensate since they are acting like pumps into a single cushion rather then direct thrust… unless maybe you will have separate front and rear skirts?

U should sooooo have like a kind of buddy up system on this thing so it be both on board controls AND remote control!!

OMFG YOU NEED TO MAKE THE SKIRT OUT OF CLEAR PLASTIC SO FROM A DISTANCE IT LOOKS LIKE THERE ISNT ANYTHING UNDER IT :D

Love the video but I wanna ask what you'll do with the left over foam you've cut out

I absolutely love big projects that take weeks to finish just to destroy ❤

Corroplast sheets glued at 90 degrees orientation would be lighter than plywood or aluminum.

Me and my son are thinking of doing the same thing but with TOROIDAL PROPELLER

I think I would've created fiberglass U-Channels rather than using the timber for the upright strength bracing. I would also consider glassing the whole body with a good medium weight twill weave (conforms to curves nicely). Use a good two part aircraft grade epoxy like Wests and it should adhere nicely to the foam and give you tremendous strength. If you really wanted to get an advantage out of it you could peel ply the glass to create a nice flat surface that requires a minimum of filling and sanding to get a nice painting surface.

Have you thought of using a Toroidal propeller?

Should definitely fibreglass the foam and make it last forever

This is by far my favourite series on your channel. Man I am enjoying the heck out of this. This thing is going to be so awesome!

Making me wish I could find my old Star Wars toys. I modded my landspeeder to hold a rocket engine, but was too afraid to fire it off...

can't wait to see this running because the original landspeeder prop sat on like aircraft landing gear.

Loving it! Just thinking out loud, would big ducted fans work better than props for lift?

Curious if the foam waste is recyclable?

The biggest problem with Hovercrafts even bigger then directional control. HOVERCRAFTS don't do HILLS. THEY ALWAYS GO DOWN SLOPE. Just thought you might like to know. Good Luck

Is that chubaka had me dying 🤣